I’m reading the Evening Standard, occasionally glancing at my phone to note my date is running late. I also note that the sound system in the restaurant’s bar is very good and the music has an earthy realness that you don’t usually get when listening to muzak. I also look at the martini I ordered, it took a while to arrive and when it did the barman stated with the cheeky smile of school boy caught with a copy of Razzle that ‘We had some trouble with the twist’. The trouble, it turns out, is that the lemon wasn’t dead and it put up a worthy struggle when some of its peel was flayed for the zesty sprig needed to finish my drink.
I’m ordering a Kir Royale; it would seem there is a bit too much Kir and not enough Royale, as half the drink explodes over the top of the glass and dribbles down the side as it’s made. Oh well, at least I’m still tapping my foot quite enthusiastically to the music and the martini isn’t half bad at all, regardless of the matchstick thin lemon slice. I’m no longer on my own; my date has arrived and is nursing the Kir Royale.
A hubbub of excited noise and the turmoil of other people having a jolly good time crash into us as we enter the main restaurant. Professionals on post-work dinners and pre-night-out partygoers all meld into a hotbed of food, drink and music.
The Grill on the Market is primarily a steak restaurant, and steak is a culinary gamble; getting it wrong on any level is not an option when you consider the current form of their peers. The source of your meat to the final accoutrement balancing on the side of the plate – perfection is needed at each turn, so I’m thinking just how brave is the The Grill on the Market going to be? How about the source? Farm specified slabs of aged meat adorn the menu, and to continue with the Razzle theme there is a section entitled ‘Big Boy Cuts’ – readers of Viz insert a ‘fnarr’ here and belt looseners prepare for 1,200 grams of sirloin or T-bone, both of which at £75 each will give Hawksmoor a run for their money. Neither I nor my belt is that brave enough on this outing.
The baby scallops with a bacon and garlic salad, and the garlic in-shell king prawns with crusty bread are lovely, both cooked well and have a fine balance of adornments and the sea. I’m still tapping my foot between bites to the music and making comments on the energy in the restaurant. It’s bustling in here.
Rib-eye with mushroom sauce and herb dumplings – I love dumplings – off the special menus and fillet from the main steak menu accompany our next round of syncopated mastication. The rib-eye, mushroom and dumpling combination starts off really well but the dumplings are a little too salty for me. It doesn’t stop me eating all but the last suet ball and the rib-eye is tender and cuts easily. On my opposing plate I notice there’s not much fillet left after a relatively short time and all I get are nods and occasional gesticulations which I think are correctly interpreted as “Yes, yes, I’m busy eating. Would you shut up for a minute and let me enjoy this?”
We were enjoying our food and the other patrons were having a ball, lots of plates were going back empty, laughter was frequent; maybe the website’s claim of “Solid, honest and simple. Proper food. Job done” is on the money. A small stumble to start with the drinks but the food was good, there’s one last stumble, mine. As we leave I trip down a step and almost fall into the lap of a delightful, obviously very talented musician who has been entertaining us all evening on the piano. Woe is me – the toe tapping, head nodding tunes giving a soundtrack to our dinner were real. No wonder the food sounded so good.
The Grill on the Market, 2-3 West Smithfield, London EC1A 9JX. Tel: 020 7246 0900. Website.
